CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina looked like a bit of a long shot to serve as a host in the women’s NCAA Tournament when the regular season wound down.
Now the Tar Heels are intent on making the most of their opportunity in familiar surroundings.
“If you had evaluated us in November and stuck with that narrative, I’m not sure we would be sitting here,” North Carolina coach Courtney Banghart said Thursday. “When you look at the body of work over the last two months, we played our way into this spot and we’re thrilled that we were able to make it work.”
North Carolina (26-7), the No. 4-seeded team in the Fort Worth Region 1, meets Ohio Valley Conference champion and No. 13 seed Western Illinois (26-5) in Friday’s first round following a matchup between fifth-seeded Maryland and 12th-seeded Murray State.
North Carolina won twice at home last March to advance to the Sweet 16. But when the Tar Heels were sitting with a 2-3 record in the Atlantic Coast Conference in mid-January, playing home games in this postseason was the last thing on their minds.
So the Tar Heels already are feeling rewarded.
“Getting the opportunity to play two more games here is huge,” forward Nyla Harris said, anticipating a potential second-round game.
Western Illinois, which is in the NCAAs for the first time since 2017, is 9-4 in road games.
“We have to go in with the same mindset we would as if it was a home game,” Western Illinois forward Mia Nicastro said.
“We’re going to be scrappy, and that’s always something we can carry with us, home or away,” Leathernecks guard Addi Brownfield said.
Western Illinois coach JD Gravina wants his team to embrace the underdog role.
“There’s times wondering if you’ll ever get to do it again,” Gravina said of reaching the NCAAs. “It just makes it so much more special when I feel like you’ve really got to work for it. … That moment, it doesn’t last very long, so we’ve got to really soak it up and enjoy it.”
Maryland won its first six games in February and factored into the mix of teams considered for a home assignment this week, listed as the No. 13 overall seed in the NCAA committee’s projected bracket reveal March 1. The Terrapins had just lost by 18 points in their regular-season finale at Michigan and then were bounced in their first game in the Big Ten Tournament by Oregon.
The Terrapins have had more than two weeks to work on returning to form.
“We are really good at rebounding, really good when we get out in transition and we’re playing together,” Maryland guard Saylor Poffenbarger said. “So just making sure we get back to that and defending the Maryland way.”
Racing vs. the Racers
Murray State (31-3) is in the tournament for the second year in a row, already holding a school-record win total. The Racers arrive on a 15-game winning streak, averaging 86.1 points per game for the season.
“To win 15 straight games and be No. 5 in the country in scoring, obviously you’re doing a lot of things well,” Maryland coach Brenda Freeze said.
Murray State is 0-2 in NCAA Tournament games.
“We got to go into it with confidence and just believe that we belong here and we got to just come ready to play,” Murray State guard Haven Ford said.
Maryland has a string of consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances that began in 2011, winning at least one game in all except the 2024 tournament.
Senior moments
Each team at this site has at least one senior starter, led by Western Illinois with four.
“We have a lot of seniors that aren’t quite ready to be done with basketball and we’re going to give it our all to get whatever extra games we can,” Brownfield said.
Been here before
Maryland scoring leader Oluchi Okananwa (18 points per game) has played in Carmichael Arena previously when she spent two seasons in the Duke program before last spring’s transfer to Maryland. She’s looking for a better result in this trip to Chapel Hill.
“Unfortunately, we did not capture a win here,” Okananwa said. “But anything can change.”
Okananwa acknowledged there’s a nostalgic angle.
“Being in this gym and playing in it, remembering the battles,” she said. “I’m just excited to take the court again, especially with this new team that I’m on.”
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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season.
Bob Sutton, The Associated Press
